Secret Tunnel
by Led Feynman M.D. D.D.S. Ph.D
Summary: Sokka and Azula investigate some secret tunnels inside the Fire Nation Palace. No romance, just bonding. Now with an epilogue, at no additional cost!
1. Part One

Navigating the labyrinthine halls of the Palace was none other than Sokka. Today was important; he was to meet with the Fire Lord concerning the rights of some small island in dispute between the Fire Nation and the Polar Nation. They had both agreed that the islands were to difficult to deal with politically, and that they should be allowed independence. The issue at hand was...

Sokka never paid attention to that part.

Even now he wished he'd paid attention all the times he'd been to the Palace, as he was now 100% lost. All the hallways were the same and the decorations were too bland to make any mnemonic impression. After the third time he passed the blue vase with the daisy in it, he began to wonder why there weren't any servants buzzing around like there normally were.

Then a door a couple of meters ahead of him opened and small, black-haired woman stepped out, looking up and down the hallway.

"Oh, great, Sokka," she said, moving towards him.

"Azula." He said coolly

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to her room. "Come here, I need some help."

"What?" His voice was careful and nondescript.

"Moving furniture." They stopped in front of a large dresser, its drawers removed to make it lighter. "I need to move this dresser, but it's too heavy. Help me."

'Help me' usually meant 'Do this thing for me'.

Sokka shrugged and positioned himself on the side of it. "Which way?"

"Just pull it towards you."

Even with its drawers removed the dresser was still pretty heavy, Sokka could see how anyone could have trouble with it, let alone Azula.

He struggled with it, managing to move it about sixty centimeters.

"How's that?"

"No, more."

Another third of a meter.

"Keep going."

Another half-meter.

"More. More."

Sokka noticed that she seemed more interested in the wall behind the dresser than its actual placement.

"What are you looking for?" he grunted between tugs.

"A..." Her voice trailed before she could even start the word. She dropped to her knees and began to feel the wall. "Keep going. About another foot."

"What is it?"

"Keep going!" she snapped, waving her arm at him.

Sokka grimaced and continued to pull.

"_Yes._" Azula said suddenly. "I knew it!"

"Is that enough?"

"Yeah, you can stop."

Sokka climbed out between the dresser and the wall.

"What is it?"

Azula was crouching in front of the wall, running her finger along a square-shaped depression in the wallpaper, about two feet on a side. She stood up. "It's a secret tunnel," she stated matter-of-factually.

"Oh yeah. I forgot there was a bunch."

"So now..." She stepped back, swung her arms, and delivered a swift low-kick to the square. Her bare foot punched through the material with a soft crunch.

However, now her foot was stuck. She swung her arms, trying to keep balanced. It didn't work. She would have fallen if Sokka didn't lunge forward and catch her by her back.

"Careful," he advised. Quickly, she extracted her foot and removed herself from his hands.

"Th-thanks."

One of the things everyone who interacted with Azula noticed was that she was just weirdly averse to being touched. Even placing a hand on her back caused her to get uncomfortable and anxious. Sokka suspected it had to do with being abused by her father, though she insisted that he'd never physically abused her.

Rubbing her hands on her shirt, she regained her composure. "Okay. Now to find where it leads."

"Hmm." Sokka nodded, arms crossed and hand on his chin. No one did anything for a second. He looked up at Azula. She looked back to him. "Go ahead."

Her face screwed up in offense. "So you can ogle me from behind? Nice try. You first." She stepped back to give him access to the hole. He reached into the broken panel and yanked it out of the wall. It was made of wood, but it was too light; it'd obviously been in place for a while and begun to rot. No wonder Azula could kick through it in her state.

Sokka broke the square on half and threw it aside, kneeling down to peer into the tunnel. It was straight and long, and hard to see into.

"It's really dark, I can't really see anything. Do you have a lantern?"

"No, sorry. Just... Crawl forward. Unless you're afraid of the dark?" She kicked his foot gently.

"Whatever." Sokka crawled into the tunnel. After a meter or so, he heard Azula get to her knees and enter after him.

"How long is this anyway?" He muttered.

"Probably thirty or forty feet."

On the one hand, thirty or forty feet of a dark tunnel leading to Spirits know where. On the other, he wouldn't have to meet with the Fire Lord for a while.

"Hmm," he breathed.

"What?"

"Nothing." They pressed on.

"So, what are you doing in the Palace?" Azula inquired after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh. I'm supposed to meet with your borther about some Podunk islands the Fire Nation took over."

"I thought the Fire Nation released all of its old claims."

"Well they did. But these islands are so insignificant that the Polar Nation doesn't even want to incorporate them. They're in a kind of-"

"Polar Nation?"

Sokka closed his eyes. A lot of things had happened while she was in isolation. "A few years ago the Northern and Southern Water Tribes decided to join themselves together, to strengthen themselves and keep the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation from taking advantage of them. They call themselves the Polar Nation now."

"Hmm. Why not the Water Nation? Fits the theme."

"Well thanks to numerous Fire Nation raids over the last century-" he looked back to give a sarcastic glare to Azula's silhouette "-The South Pole had almost no Waterbenders in it. Pretty much just my sister and this little girl four villages over. When they named the country, they didn't want to offend all the non-benders, so they went with the Polar Nation."

"I still would have called it the Water Nation."

"Well I suspect it won't matter in a few years."

"Oh?"

"The nation was formed to stand up to political bullying. Once they figure out all the details left over from the war, the two tribes will probably break up again."

"It's hard to maintain a country on literal opposite ends of the planet."

"Yeah. Oh, whoa. There's something."

In the oppressive darkness, Sokka hadn't even noticed the tunnel ending in front of him. "There's a door."

"Open it."

It was a small wooden door, hinged at the top. Sokka pushed on it to find that it was unsecured, it opened easily.

Sokka pulled himself upright in the small room. The only light came from what appeared to be a pipe coming down from the ceiling, letting in sunlight. Unfortunately, crud had accumulated on the glass inside the pipe and prevented any useful light from entering. "It's too dark to see anything."

Azula stood up next to him. "Are there any torches here?"

"Um-" Sokka leaned out for the wall, and began to feel around for a torch. Azula did the same thing.

"Found one," she stated. "Oh, it's dry. Damn."

"Well just... use your Firebending."

The Avatar was reluctant to completely strip Azula of her Firebending. He felt that it wasn't fair. Instead he tried something different: By being careful with his Energybending, he managed to simply restrict 7her Firebending abilities. She could easily produce small flames in her hands, but any large displays would be incredibly difficult for her. He also insisted that she never, ever use her ability, threatening to completely remove her Firebending if she was caught.

The Avatar wasn't here right now.

Azula produced a small blue flame in her hand, increasing its size until it bathed the room in light.

"Agh, agh, that's really hot. Can you turn that down?" Sokka was standing about two feet away and could still feet the hair burning off his arms.

"Sorry." She focused on the flame, dimming it from bright blue to a more natural yellow. "Better?"

"Yeah. So what's in this room?" Sokka turned slowly. There wasn't much more than a few old boxes, some dusty books, and a large painting on one wall.

"I found this room about a month ago. I have a lot of free time, so I started to explore the secret tunnels in the Palace."

"Right. Are these original to the Palace?"

"No, my great-grandfather had them put in right after he declared wart on the world. He figured it was a good idea to have secret passages all over the Palace, in case it was ever attacked."

"Oh."

"But now my Royal Brother's undoing all that. All of the entrances are getting boarded up. It's how the assassins keep getting in. Which means this is my last chance to do this."

"Do what?"

Azula motioned to the painting with her free hand. "Take that down."

Sokka complied. To his surprise, there was another small tunnel behind the painting, a meter off the ground, 60 centimeters wide and about 40 tall. "Oh wow. A hidden tunnel within a secret room at the end of a hidden tunnel."

"Excellent." Azula put her hands into the opening and worked her way into it. Sokka set the painting down.

"Thanks Sokka! Put the painting back up when you leave, okay?" Her foot disappeared into the tunnel.

"Wait, no-" Sokka climbed in after. "Where does this lead?"

"Oh you're coming? I thought you'd stay."

"Yeah right."

More silence. More crawling. More getting cooked by the fire in Azula's hands.

"Wait, you never told me where this goes."

"Well with any luck, it leads to a secret door on the outside of the Palace walls. We'll see though, hopefully it hasn't collapsed."

It took a moment for Sokka to register.

"Wait, outside of the Palace?"

"Yeah."

Sokka reached out and grabbed Azula's ankle. "You're trying to escape?"

"Let go-" she shook her ankle pathetically.

"Stop. Answer me. Is that was this is? An escape route?"

"Yes, it was, please..." her ankle became more frantic, as did her breathing. Sokka didn't care.

"Are you insane?" He immediately regretted his choice of words, but pressed on. "Did you actually think I would just let you walk out of here? Your brother would have my head."

"I was going to distract you and run for it. I wasn't going to hurt you or anything. Will you please-"

"No. You're coming back with me. Come on."

"_Sokka Please..._"

"No. Not until you tell me you're coming back."

Azula stopped fighting and went limp. Her breathing became ragged, and the flame in her hand flickered wildly. Sokka glanced at her thin ankle in his hand, sighed, and let go. At once her legs were pulled up towards her, curling up and blocking most of the light with her thighs.

Great. Now she was having a panic attack in the middle of this tunnel. Sokka cleared his throat. "Hey, I'm sorry. I forgot." He heard her exhale with a _hnt _a few times before she responded.

"Please don't do that again." _Hnt hnt hnt._

"Sorry. Will you come back now?"

She gasped one final time before extending her legs again. "Yeah."

With great difficulty, Sokka began to shimmy backwards down the tunnel. Azula had a different approach. Sokka watched in horror as she twisted herself around inside the confines of the tunnel, legs pointing this way and that, spine bulging out from places unholy, until she was face-to-face with Sokka, the yellow flame still in her hand.

"What the _hell?_" he groaned.

"A trick Ty Lee showed me."

"How to dislocate your entire body?"

"Ha. It helps that I weigh 90 pounds."

Sokka briefly frowned before continuing to work his way down the tunnel. Five seconds passed. Azula broke the silence.

"So how's the wife?"

Sokka stopped suddenly, staring soulfully at the floor. "Dead. Thank you for asking."

Azula leaned forward. "_Dead?_"

He nodded, lips stretched tight.

Her mouth gaped for a second. "...I'm so sorry."

"Sure."

"No, really. Suki? She was... a fighter. Never gave up. I respected her."

"Even when you threw her in prison?"

"Especially when I threw her in prison. All of the other prisoners loved her. The guardsmen were afraid of her. That's impressive."

"Heh." His eyes glazed, he seemed to be staring through the ground. Slowly his head lowered until his chin rested on his hands.

"I had no idea. Really." Azula licked her lips a bit.

"How did she, um... If it's not... rude-"

"Um. One day she got sick. And we weren't really worried about it. But she just kept getting worse and we couldn't figure out why. My sister tried everything. We tried other healers, but she wouldn't respond, get better. Then one day..." he seemed to think she would be able to figure out what came next.

Sokka wasn't crying, but he looked like he should have been. "But, you can't dwell on it forever."

"Actually you can-"

"It's been a year, so I've moved on."

"That's good."

"Let's go." Sokka started moving again, faster than last time.

"Okay..."

They wiggled forward for a few more seconds.

Finally Sokka's feet met nothing instead of the floor of the tunnel. "I'm at the end." Another moment of wiggling and he was on his feet in the tiny room. Azula popped out a moment later, refusing to let Sokka help her out.

"I've got it, stop." She stood up. "Okay, let's go. Put the picture back up first."

"You do it." Sokka dropped to his hands, opened the trapdoor, and entered the tunnel.

Azula held the door pen for a moment, waiting for him to get further down the tunnel.

"You coming?" he called.

"Um... No." Azula closed the trapdoor, slipping a bamboo quill into the latch to hold it shut.

"Hey...!"

"Sorry Sokka, thanks for your help!"

"Stop!" He started to kick the door.

Even in her emaciated state, Azula could move fast. She swiftly placed the painting in front of the trapdoor and dove into the secret secret tunnel.

"Dammit Azula!" she heard behind her as she crawled to freedom.


	2. Part Two

Hello readers. It's been brought to my attention that the title "Secret Tunnel" inadvertently alludes to an episode in the series where romantic themes between two characters are explored.

I can assure you that this was not my intention. This was purely coincidental, and the name was chosen because the working title "Escape" gave away the ending.

Anyway thank you for reading and don't forget to leave a review.

"Sneaky bitch!" Sokka cursed.

Unbelievable. He thought he knew her. All the time they spent together and she had no trouble pulling this shit on him.

The tunnel Sokka happened to be in was both shorter in length and taller in height than the tunnel Azula was in, which meant that if he moved quickly, he had a chance at beating her out of the palace.

He crawled faster than he'd ever crawled anywhere in his life. By the time he reached the end and emerged into Azula's room, the knees in his trousers had worn through and his own knees were raw from the hard stone.

"Damn damn damn damn damn damn," he muttered, running through the halls to where he was sure the front door was. As long as he didn't spot moving, he could catch her.

After the third time he passed the blue vase with the daisy in it, he threw his hands up in despair. "Who the hell designed this place?"

Time was running out, and Sokka was running out of ideas. Fortunately, he had one idea. Unfortunately, it was a retarded idea.

Fortunately, the broken glass didn't wreck him when he hit the ground from the second story of the Palace. Unfortunately, he would have to figure out a way to explain the broken window to the Fire Lord without mentioning his escaped sister.

All that mattered though was that Sokka was now outside of the Palace, and he had a really good idea where Azula was headed.

Assuming the tunnel went in a straight line, he could roughly estimate its path outside of the Palace grounds. He'd need to get outside of the grounds first, and he needed to go through the front gate for that.

"Where's the fire Sokka?" The funny gate guard yelled at Sokka as he tore by. He was running, yet still found a breath with which to give a disappointed snort. Funny guy.

Sokka visualized the tunnel in his head. He'd studied the the layout of the Capital City extensively before the invasion all those years ago, and to a much lesser extent the Palace itself. He knew the streets and buildings, and knew with little uncertainty where the tunnel pointed.

He ran along the wall, picturing the place in his mind. The tunnel ran under the wall at a flat part, about a hundred yards from him. He could see it now.

A few breathless seconds of running later and Sokka came to a stop at the place where he was sure the tunnel passed under the wall. In fact, he was sure that if he put his ear to the ground and listened carefully, he could hear Azula crawling a meter below. But there was no time for that, and his heart was beating much too loudly for him to hear anything but his own heartbeat.

The tunnel appeared in his head, running under his feet and toward a block of buildings about ten meters from the wall. Sokka broke into a run again to reach the closest building, a tavern.

It was about noon, so the tavern was empty, except for an alcoholic in the corner and a bartender cleaning glasses behind the counter. Both turned to look at Sokka as he burst in. The alcoholic burped.

"Can I get into your basement?" Sokka gasped. The barman shrugged and motioned the door with the glass in his hand.

"Please please please please please..." This had to be it. If the tunnel didn't bend or curve, it would have to terminate here, in this tavern. Sokka rushed to the back wall and began to search for a door or panel that would open.

There was a table positioned at the approximate location of the tunnel. Sokka slapped the wooden paneling above the table, found nothing, and ducked under to check there. To his surprise, the wall slapped back. It was hollow underneath. "Yesss." His heart skipped a beat.

The false wall didn't have a handle or a hinge, but Sokka managed to get a finger hold and yank it out of its place.

Inside, behind the wooden panel, a tunnel. And inside the tunnel, less than a meter from the opening, Azula. Sokka dropped to the ground and stuck his head in.

"Hey, Sokka..." Azula started with a forced grin.

"Shut the hell up Azula. You know, I wasn't going to tell your brother about these tunnels. I wasn't. Then you pulled this escape attempt. I can't just hide that you know."

"Sokka, please-"

"I said shut up. Now turn around, we're going back. And you're going in front this time."

With a loud sight, Azula began to back up down the tunnel. Sokka briefly wondered how he would place the panel back on the wall, then decided to ignore it for now.

He dropped back to the ground and poked into the tunnel just a little bit to find it pitch-black.

"Uh, Azula, I need some light."

A flame flickered to life less than a six inches from Sokka's face. So did Azula's grim face.

"Ah. Dammit, you scared me. Come on."

"Sokka, I'm not going back." The flame brightened. Something upstairs fell over with a clatter.

"What?"

"Sokka, I can't go back. I can't."

"No, we're going back. And whether we do it with you willing or unwilling is completely up to you."

"Sokka, you don't understand. That Palace-"

"That Palace what? That Palace is so horrifying? That Palace is evil? Yeah, it must be hell, a squadron of servants at your beck and call, the best cooks in the country ready to make you anything you want, some of the most comfortable-"

"Sokka, it's fucking boring in there."

Azula rarely swore. Sokka stopped cold to collect himself.

"What?"

"It's boring. It's so boring. Yeah it's luxurious, but..." She glanced around briefly, searching for words. "After six years, even caviar gets old."

"That's... I can't..."

"Do you know what it's like to be locked away for a third of your life?"

"...No, but-"

"I don't even want to take anything over anymore, or set everything on fire. I just want to not be trapped inside my entire life!"

"...I can't just let you walk out because you're bored."

For about two seconds Azula sat there with her mouth closed. "You could... you could come with me."

A beat. "Come with you?"

"...Yeah. Yeah! I mean, I know that you hate all this political crap. Right now, you should be talking to my brother abut those islands in the- with the- Polar Nation- whatever. Instead, you decided to crawl through secret tunnels. And that was before I even tried to escape. That was all you."

Sokka stared wildly at the ground. "I told myself I'd kill myself if I ever heard the phrase "Trade agreement" used three times in the same sentence again," he muttered.

"See? Those are boring as hell. If you come with me, you will never hear the phrase "trade agreement" ever again."

"Really?"

"Well, I can't guarantee that. But it will significantly reduce your likelihood of hearing it."

"I'd like that."

"I know! Let's go!"

"But you can't just leave, even with me with you. Your brother wouldn't-"

"My brother trusts you. He really does. Probably more than anyone but his wife. He'd be okay with you taking me for a walk once in a while."

"Okay, but how do I know you won't make a break for it the second we get out there?"

"Well we both know I can't outrun you."

"How about you braining me with a huge rock and then making a break for it?"

"I can't even lift a huge rock."

"How about you paying someone else to brain me with a rock while you run away?"

Azula laughed. "You'll just have to take that on faith."

Sokka sat still for a moment, mulling it over. On the one hand, adventure. On the other hand- well, he couldn't even think of a downside. Maybe getting brained with a huge rock, but that was unlikely.

"Come on, when was the last time you did anything exciting, had an adventure? While you were with the Avatar?"

It had been about a year since he last did anything like that. "It's been a while."

"What do you say? Let's go away. Just leave the mundane. You have to miss it."

He did miss it.

He looked up at Azula. "Okay. Let's go have an adventure."

She smiled broadly. "Yes! I knew you wanted to."

With great difficulty, Sokka worked his way out of the tunnel. "But two things: The second we get out of the city, I'm writing you brother and telling him you're with me."

"Okay, that's fine." Azula emerged.

"And second: If you do anything funny-" He knelt down to Azula's level and got into her face. "-I'm sending you right back to your brother to deal with."

"What do you mean 'funny'?"

"Just don't- Don't do anything weird, okay?"

"Okay, fine. Thanks."

To Sokka's surprise, Azula leaned forward and grabbed him in a hug. Sokka stood silently for a moment, ultimately deciding that it would be okay for him to complete the hug and put his arms on her back. Azula broke the hug and shrugged his hands off. "No, no please."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Now let's go before they realize I'm gone."

"Yeah." Sokka replaced the wooden panel and led Azula up the stairs into the tavern. He casually swaggered to the bar and set a coin on the counter. "We weren't here," he said to the bar guy. He took the coin and inspected it.

"Okay."

Sokka and Azula walked out.

"You know there's glass in your hair right?"


	3. Epilogue

I lied.

* * *

The guardsmen on duty weren't used to visitors arriving so late at night without some kind of advanced warning. Chen and Fo stood firmly as a black-haired woman approached them, showing no intention of stopping.

"Excuse me ma'am, what is your business?" Chen spoke clearly, remembering the line he'd been made to memorize weeks ago.

The woman stopped suddenly, a meter from the men, and glanced between the two of them for a moment. "Are you two new here?"

Chen and Fo weren't prepared for that question. Fo looked to Chen then back to the woman. "I've been here for three months. He's been here for a couple of weeks."

"Psht, no wonder you don't recognize me." The woman glanced away. "Listen, is there someone who's been here for longer? A captain? Surely someone here recognizes me."

Just then, from somewhere behind the wall, probably the guard house, a door slammed and someone ran over. Chen and Fo glanced back to see Captain Luong jogging to the gate. Captain Luong rarely ran anywhere.

He passed behind Chen, smiling broadly at the visitor. "Well, if it isn't you." he placed his fists on his hips for a second, then pushed Chen and Fo aside to take the visitor by the shoulder. "The rest of the staff all thinks you got yourself messed up bad out there. But I knew better. You're strong. I never doubted you a second." Luong's voice was low and smooth, and had a unique dialect that gave away his colonial upbringing. An American would have called his accent "Southern".

"I appreciate the confidence," the visitor said, only freaking out a little from the hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Princess, let's get you out of the cold." Luong led the woman between Chen and Fo, toward the palace.

"Say, my men weren't giving you any trouble were they?"

"No sir, they were only doing their jobs."

Captain Luong laughed heartily. Chen and Fo watched as the captain led the small woman to the Palace.

* * *

Azula shrugged off the captain's hand as soon as she could, thanked him, and let herself into the Palace. It was exactly as she remembered it, though somehow its walls carried more weight within them, almost if her memories had gotten stronger in the years she'd been gone.

But now was not the time to reminisce. Azula had come here for one reason, and the less time it took to do that thing the better off she was.

She didn't even knock on the Fire Lord's office; she simply let herself in.

For some reason people were surprised to find that the Fire Lord operated out of an office, not his throne room or whatever. This confounded Azula, as it seemed to be basic knowledge. The Throne Room was for important personal meetings, the office was for the paperwork. It wasn't even a big office too, it was almost as if the builders realized they needed one more room and stuck it in between two others.

Zuko looked up quickly. He totally wasn't expecting a visitor this late.

"Hello," Azula sang, walking in. Zuko stared.

"Uhhh...zula?"

"In the flesh." She sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

"Uh..." Zuko continued to stare. He wasn't expecting a visitor this late, and he certainly wasn't expecting his estranged sister. "...Hey."

"I know it's been a while, sorry for not writing lately."

"Heh. How long's it been?" he asked weakly.

"Hmm." Azula leaned back in thought. "Two years, three months, eleven days. And a couple of hours, I'm sure, but that's just change."

"Uh huh." Zuko still struggled to put words together. Had it really been two years? It felt like a million.

* * *

"Message, sir." A servant entered the office, carrying a small scroll, the kind attached to messenger hawks. Zuko took it, the servant bowed and left.

Zuko recognized Sokka's messy script the moment he unrolled the paper. It took him a few seconds to make out the message.

"Dear Zuko. I have your sister.

The escape was her idea, but I left with her to keep her in line. She won't be a problem I promise.

From love with Sokka."

In that moment Zuko swore he would punch through Sokka's head the next time they met.

* * *

Gripping the edge of the desk, Zuko leaned back.

"It's been an adventure," Azula almost mused.

"Well I'm glad you had fun." If sarcasm had any potential energy, his statement could power the entire civilized world for about three days.

"I did. Sorry you couldn't come. I have the next best thing though." She reached into her coat and held out a small black book. "I made a journal of the trip."

Zuko took the book, inspecting it carefully. "Two years of adventure compressed into one small journal?"

Azula grimaced and leaned out, snatching the book from his hand. "That's, uh, actually not it." She pulled another book out of the other side of her coat and handed it back to him. "Wrong book."

"Well what's that one then?" Zuko motioned to the first book with the one she'd just handed him.

"Nothing, it's just... some correspondence I had with- someone. I had it bound."

"Someone? Sounds like this is some pretty important correspondence." Zuko wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed the few times he was given a change to give his sister a hard time.

"Just some letters..." She put the book back in her coat.

"Sounds like somebody's got a boyfriend." Zuko leaned back in his chair.

"I do not have a boyfriend."

Her tone made it clear she was finished with that topic.

"Huh. So where's Sokka than?"

"Oh, he went home. We decided that we'd had enough fun and went our separate ways."

"Home?"

"Yeah. You know, home. A residence where one usually dwells."

"No, I know what-" He paused. "No, it's just weird. He hasn't been home since Suki-" he suddenly cleared his throat. "He told you about Suki then?"

Azula nodded.

Zuko dropped the book on his desk and laced his hands behind his head. "So, you're back. Done with your adventure and decided to come running home."

"No, believe me, this is temporary. I wanted to give you that-" She pointed at the book on the desk, "Rest for a day or two, and get moving again. Not another adventure, but a more permanent situation."

"Huh. Settling down?"

"...A little."

The siblings nodded at each other.

"And I uh, also wanted to apologize." Azula sat forward in her chair. "It probably wasn't fair to leave like that without saying anything."

"I should really apologize to you. I was so caught up in all this I forgot I even had family." He motioned at the piles of paperwork on his desk. "If I'd bothered to spend any time with you you wouldn't have had to escape to find something to do."

No one spoke for a beat.

"So... We're good?" Azula asked.

"Yeah. We're okay." Zuko stood up, and Azula did the same. They leaned over the desk and hugged briefly.

"A couple of days then?"

"Yeah. In my old room if that's okay."

"It's your room."

"Thank you." She walked to the door.

"Of course." He sat down.

* * *

Despite a two-year reprieve, the walk to her room felt the same as the million other times she'd done it.

In _her_ absence, Zuko had apparent;y had someone in to fix the hole in the wall, and probably to seal the tunnel from both ends. The dresser had been moved back to its original place.

Her room was was almost exactly the same as she'd left it.

Azula collapsed on the bed, tired and sore. It was a damn sight better than the various sleeping bags and cots she'd spent the last two years sleeping on, and she could feel her joints unwinding.

Almost out of habit, she reached into her coat and retrieved the book she put there earlier. Every once in a while she liked to read the letters again. It gave her a little bit of hope, and kept the longing at bay.

_Sokka said something about recording our travels. I agreed, and bought this journal_

Azula sat up fast. "Oh shit."

* * *

Back in the office, Zuko glanced around. He could hardly believe what just happened. The last person he expected to walk through that door had walked through that door.

Sufficiently distracted from his work, he spotted the book laying on the desk. Picking it up, he pondered how she was able to compress two years into a small book. He opened it.

_Azula_

_I got your letter on time, no need to worry. _

Zuko flipped ahead a few pages, reading the letters written to his sister from someone named Lin. "Holy shit."

* * *

God dammit. God fucking_ damn it_, Lord Annaymoss.


End file.
